Charging for Rain on the Federal Plain
Regulation of stormwater runoff is a requirement handed down from Congress to the states and from the states to the cities. For many years, EPA has placed stormwater regulation on its list of priorities, which is not going to change any time soon. Since many point sources are located within city limits, it is the cities that find themselves scrambling to come up with funds to maintain the necessary infrastructure and staff needed to comply with the regulations.
Not unexpectedly, cities have found this to be an ever-increasing expense in a time of decreasing revenues. For this reason, many cities have taken this expense out of the general fund obligation and have created, or are creating, stormwater utilities that allow a fee to be imposed on each assessable property within city limits (with some restrictions). While this has certainly been helpful to a municipality’s budgeting process, it has always been a bit frustrating that federal facilities within city limits get a free ride because of their exemption from state or city-imposed assessments. This has now changed.
In the waning hours of the 2010 lame-duck congressional session, an amendment to the Clean Water Act was passed (S.3481) which allows municipalities to require stormwater fees to be assessed against federally owned roads, buildings and structures. The measure was signed into law on January 4, 2011.
The change will be good news for cities. Though it will not be a large dollar amount, it will compel the federal government to help fund the huge, unfunded mandate required by the stormwater regulations. Maybe if some pain is felt by the Fed it will encourage EPA to get serious about the real elephant in the room -- nonpoint sources. Until then, cities should accept the invitation to collect stormwater fees from federal facilities located within their city limits.
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